Stars shine at Lyng’s annual motocross extravaganza

Action from the British Motocross Championship at Cadders Hill, Lyng. Photo: Steve Adams

Phil Armes
Sunday, April 6, 2014
10:50 PM

Matisso Karro proved to be the master of Cadders Hill as he swept to pole position, and two victories from three MX2 races at round two of the Maxxis ACU British Motocross Championship yesterday. He only failed to take a clean sweep after crashing early in the opening race as he tried to make up for a poor start.

In the MX1 class, for the more powerful 450cc machines, it was Shaun Simpson on the HM Plant KTM who took top billing after an eventful afternoon. The red plate holder, which denotes the championship leader, made a mediocre start in race one but got his head down to move through the field before pouncing on the luckless Jake Nicholls just two laps from the end as the race leader suffered machine problems.

Nicholls, from Ipswich, managed to nurse the Wilvo Forkrent KTM home for second, ahead of MBO Sport Yamaha’s Kristian Whatley. Behind the podium trio Bury St Edmunds’ Elliott Banks-Browne fended off a late challenge from Gert Krestinov on the Apico Kawasaki, with Alex Snow rounding out the top six.

As the pack charged up the Cadders Hill start straight for race two it was Nicholls who forced his Wilvo Forkrent KTM to the front, and the local man was in no mood to concede this time as he claimed a gate to flag victory. Simpson kept him honest throughout but had to settle for second, with Nathan Watson overcoming a first race retirement to put his Dantec Husqvarna in third.

Estonian Prit Ratsep had a lonely race in fourth on the Oakleaf Kawasaki, with Banks-Browne fifth after surviving a last lap offensive from Brad Anderson who was coming through from a lap two crash on his Buildbase Honda.

Race three looked to be going the way of Simpson who had taken control from the opening lap, but the Grand Prix star made a mistake at the end of lap seven and crashed, allowing Watson to make up for the earlier disappointment and claim a popular win. Simpson remounted for second and Nicholls moved from sixth on lap one to finish third, with Graeme Irwin sliding down the leaderboard to fourth, ahead of Whatley and Krestinov.

Simpson maintains the advantage in the MX1 championship as the riders head for round three in Wiltshire in three weeks time, with Nicholls a mere five points adrift, and Whatley third 26 points further back.

With a fervent set of fans providing strong encouragement Latvian Karro was the pick of the crop in the MX2 class. After setting the standard in qualifying he was always going to be the man to beat. It wasn’t all plain sailing though for the Wilvo Forkrent KTM teamster who crashed early in race one and could only manage ninth by the finish. It was his team mate Adam Sterry who took his maiden British Championship race victory, while class series leader Mel Pocock was seven seconds behind on the HM Plant KTM at the end of the 12 lap encounter. Neville Bradshaw fought out a race long duel with Bryan Mackenzie to grab the final podium position.

Sterry, who obviously took great confidence from his earlier win, headed the second race before succumbing to the pressure from Pocock at mid race distance, and subsequently took a tumble before remounting to finish fifth. Karro forced his way to the front with three laps remaining and went on to open a five second advantage over Pocock. Bradshaw was clearly enjoying the roughening condition of the superbly prepared Norfolk track and grabbed third on the Buildbase Honda.

The MX2 class waited for their final race to really entertain the large crowd. As no less than five riders fought tooth and nail for the winners laurels over the 20 minute plus two lap race distance. Karro once again took the honours, with Bradshaw second, Pocock third. Pocock now heads the MX2 championship standings by just two points from Karro.

In the MXY2 (youth) class Jason Meara proved to be the star of the show as he had a perfect day on his Norman Watt Motorcycles Kawasaki.